I enjoyed 6 hours of climbing on Saturday, followed by a bike ride from our house in Gardiner to New Paltz for dinner, followed by the obligatory bike ride home (gently cradling my Moxie cupcake the whole way home). I enjoyed splitting said cupcake with my honey by the fire. (Yes, there is a burn ban, but, according to the rangers we are allowed to have a small backyard "cooking" fire. A heated up Moxie cupcake was the order of the day.)

Climbed on Sunday with Maryana, a remarkable climber from NYC. Alas, as I was scrambling to CCK I somehow dislodged a rock, it landed on my hand and crushed my thumb. Within 10 minutes my thumb was twice the size of my normal thumb. I left Maryana with some very nice guys who decided to adopt her. Mitch met me at the bridge to take me home. My thumb is not broken, just smashed and sore and very blue.

Regrattably the weekend was marred by a tragic death on Sunday. As Mitch was waiting for me on the bridge, he was talking to the rangers about the accident in the Black Fly area. Ranger Frank was still puzzled over the sling configuration and the matter of failure. No one really knows what happened and we understand that the young woman died enroute to St. Francis. (According to Frank, they elected not to chopper her out; he said "that's really good or really really bad".) It is indeed a very sad outcome for all involved.

I will not be gunking for two weeks (hope my thumb is healed by then).

By the way...Mitch is out for the season. He needs another wrist surgery (the metal plate in his wrist is busted into three pieces). So, if anyone is looking for a partner please let me know. I have middle of the week flexibility and will be up most weekends (climbing every Friday or Monday from May on).

Last weekend was the May long weekend for us people up here in Canada, and I had planned to spend it with my girlfriend, hopefully climbing. She's not as good as I am (and I'm not all that strong), but is very enthusiastic about climbing. The previous weekend we did a local 3-pitch trad climb as warm-up, and make sure she was ok with the general procedures.

Saturday we climbed the Standard Route (II, 5.5, 5.2R) up White Horse Ledge, Direct Finish (5.7) variation. That's about 1100' (335m) of almost completely friction slab climbing. I lead everything, but wasn't particularly bothered by the run-out bits, and the Standard Route is such because it has some of the better protection options for routes up the ledge. (And, I've been up a few similar style climbs in the Adirondacks, too.) It is a lovely cliff, and a lovely route. Also, the approach is simple and the down-hike is on well marked comfortable trail. Still, it was a long day for us, and my calves were feeling a bit worn by the end of it.

Sunday we drove over the Kancamangus highway (which is a nice drive) to Rumney and spent a shortish day (due to the heat and tiredness) climbing there. Where the granite slabs of White Horse Ledge felt familiar to me, the schist of Rumney was completely new. I spent far too much time (and energy) trying to figure out how this rock worked, but still enjoyed it. We climbed a few climbs at the Parking Lot wall.

Monday we packed up and drove back over to Rumney, climbed a few more routes, this time on the Meadows wall, then headed home. We hit an unfortunate 2 hour wait at the border, but otherwise the drive went fine.

And, though warm, the weather was clear and dry the whole weekend, which was nice. I was, also, surprised that there were no bugs around the whole weekend. I'd have expected both mosquitos and black flies by this time in May.

how were the crowds? Seemed like all of Canada was at the Gunks last weekend!

Not to worry, we went all the way to Slime and enjoyed some great climbing far far away from the noise. Wegetables has to be one of the funnest 10's in the park. If it were closer to the Uberfall, it would be a classic.

For Gunkers...try P1 of Cold Turkeys (to the right of Arrow), very fun, sometimes exposed 5.8 with G pro. I rarely see anyone on the climb...it's better than it looks.

I think the warmer weather this winter brought the bugs out earlier. Of course, I'm not up there right now, but if I had to guess then I'd say it was that.

I finally made it out myself this past weekend for the first time in months. The partner situation here is still not very good. Those with cars aren't that committed and those who are committed don't have cars. The buses aren't a great option either, especially with the days getting noticeably shorter.

how were the crowds? Seemed like all of Canada was at the Gunks last weekend!

Not to worry, we went all the way to Slime and enjoyed some great climbing far far away from the noise. Wegetables has to be one of the funnest 10's in the park. If it were closer to the Uberfall, it would be a classic.

For Gunkers...try P1 of Cold Turkeys (to the right of Arrow), very fun, sometimes exposed 5.8 with G pro. I rarely see anyone on the climb...it's better than it looks.

I thought the right of Arrow was Quiver (5.9R). I've done that on TR. Nice route. Just left of Easy V.

how were the crowds? Seemed like all of Canada was at the Gunks last weekend!

Saturday at White Horse Ledge was quite calm -- there were people on the route, so a bit of delays for this, but not long ones, and generally not a many-parties-at-one-belay issue. Also, lots of parking choices -- though it did look like most of the climbers were Canadian.

Sunday at Rumney, the parking lot was full-to-overflowing, but to my surprise, relatively few people were at the Parking Lot cliff. Maybe everyone figured it would be over-busy and avoided it?

I have been at the gunks since Wednesday and all I have climbed is wet, drippy, slimy rock. It's been terrible. It's so humid the rock is just sweating. Touch the rock and your hand is soaked. Managed to climb, but, barely. Arrow wall was dry today as were a few climbs in the Alley Oop area. Uberfall was a mess.

I have been at the gunks since Wednesday and all I have climbed is wet, drippy, slimy rock. It's been terrible. It's so humid the rock is just sweating. Touch the rock and your hand is soaked. Managed to climb, but, barely. Arrow wall was dry today as were a few climbs in the Alley Oop area. Uberfall was a mess.

I am hoping that tomorrow and MOnday are better.

warm winter = hot summer. will night climbing be a trend this year in the 'Gunks?

Got out again today for the second time in two weeks. Only managed 3.5 routes, but still a good day. my goal for the day was for naught, however. there's a big-ass bees nest above the route and some punks decided they wanted to burn the nest. in order to preserve the nest, some other punks decided to pull the third bolt, leaving ground-fall potential at the crux (just before the fourth bolt). We decided against that and headed off to climb what is considered to be Brasil's first sport route (Hamburger). I aided through the first bolt and called it a day soon thereafter. It's definitely a project for the distant future.

Last weekend was the May long weekend for us people up here in Canada, and I had planned to spend it with my girlfriend, hopefully climbing. She's not as good as I am (and I'm not all that strong), but is very enthusiastic about climbing. The previous weekend we did a local 3-pitch trad climb as warm-up, and make sure she was ok with the general procedures.

Saturday we climbed the Standard Route (II, 5.5, 5.2R) up White Horse Ledge, Direct Finish (5.7) variation. That's about 1100' (335m) of almost completely friction slab climbing. I lead everything, but wasn't particularly bothered by the run-out bits, and the Standard Route is such because it has some of the better protection options for routes up the ledge. (And, I've been up a few similar style climbs in the Adirondacks, too.) It is a lovely cliff, and a lovely route. Also, the approach is simple and the down-hike is on well marked comfortable trail. Still, it was a long day for us, and my calves were feeling a bit worn by the end of it.

Sunday we drove over the Kancamangus highway (which is a nice drive) to Rumney and spent a shortish day (due to the heat and tiredness) climbing there. Where the granite slabs of White Horse Ledge felt familiar to me, the schist of Rumney was completely new. I spent far too much time (and energy) trying to figure out how this rock worked, but still enjoyed it. We climbed a few climbs at the Parking Lot wall.

Monday we packed up and drove back over to Rumney, climbed a few more routes, this time on the Meadows wall, then headed home. We hit an unfortunate 2 hour wait at the border, but otherwise the drive went fine.

And, though warm, the weather was clear and dry the whole weekend, which was nice. I was, also, surprised that there were no bugs around the whole weekend. I'd have expected both mosquitos and black flies by this time in May.

Was that you i talked to at Parking lot wall sunday night? you did Egg Mcmeadows the .9/10a then went to do the 10b down the hill? if so.. Cool!

Rumney does take a bit of getting used to. you do develop a sense of it and things seem right though.

the breeze at Rumney tends to help with the bugs. i made out without many bites this weekend but the girls in my group got a lot so it depends.

oh ya my weekend. went up thursday night late. met up with friends friday morning in the rain. we hung out at the Common Cafe for a while watching the rain come down. when it eased up we hiked Welch-Dickey (4.5mi loop with 2 2600/2700' peaks) What is usually a casual 3rd class slab walk for much of the first peak had a bit more spice due to the wetness. got back.. did Armed and dangerous .10b and Metamorphosis .8+ then went to dinner.

Had much better days saturday and sunday once it dried up. I must have over gripped on the wet stuff saturday morning cuz i was not feeling super strong to get on my project so i just had fun putting ropes up on challenging things for the group.

i wonder how many people got tickets or towed this weekend for parking on the road.. what about a no parking sign they don't understand but it is apparently a pretty expensive ticket and a really inconvenient towing company.

Sunday we drove over the Kancamangus highway (which is a nice drive) to Rumney and spent a shortish day (due to the heat and tiredness) climbing there. Where the granite slabs of White Horse Ledge felt familiar to me, the schist of Rumney was completely new. I spent far too much time (and energy) trying to figure out how this rock worked, but still enjoyed it. We climbed a few climbs at the Parking Lot wall.

I was, also, surprised that there were no bugs around the whole weekend. I'd have expected both mosquitos and black flies by this time in May.

Was that you i talked to at Parking lot wall sunday night? you did Egg Mcmeadows the .9/10a then went to do the 10b down the hill? if so.. Cool!

Rumney does take a bit of getting used to. you do develop a sense of it and things seem right though.

the breeze at Rumney tends to help with the bugs. i made out without many bites this weekend but the girls in my group got a lot so it depends.

Nope, wouldn't have been me. I didn't climb anything harder than 5.8+. I can understand that I'd get a feel for it, I just don't know if I'll spend enough time there to do so -- would be nice if it did happen, though.

I think it may be a good (for humans) season for the bugs this year -- I was out last Saturday (27th) locally, and despite not bothering with any bug spray, I didn't notice any bugs. That's unheard of in the Ottawa (Ontario) area at this time of year.

Sunday we drove over the Kancamangus highway (which is a nice drive) to Rumney and spent a shortish day (due to the heat and tiredness) climbing there. Where the granite slabs of White Horse Ledge felt familiar to me, the schist of Rumney was completely new. I spent far too much time (and energy) trying to figure out how this rock worked, but still enjoyed it. We climbed a few climbs at the Parking Lot wall.

I was, also, surprised that there were no bugs around the whole weekend. I'd have expected both mosquitos and black flies by this time in May.

Was that you i talked to at Parking lot wall sunday night? you did Egg Mcmeadows the .9/10a then went to do the 10b down the hill? if so.. Cool!

Rumney does take a bit of getting used to. you do develop a sense of it and things seem right though.

the breeze at Rumney tends to help with the bugs. i made out without many bites this weekend but the girls in my group got a lot so it depends.

Nope, wouldn't have been me. I didn't climb anything harder than 5.8+. I can understand that I'd get a feel for it, I just don't know if I'll spend enough time there to do so -- would be nice if it did happen, though.

I think it may be a good (for humans) season for the bugs this year -- I was out last Saturday (27th) locally, and despite not bothering with any bug spray, I didn't notice any bugs. That's unheard of in the Ottawa (Ontario) area at this time of year.

I was there the weekend of the 19th and there were mosquitos everywhere, all day long. And I got two ticks and found a third before it dug in.

On Monday I hit the cliff late (it rained on Sunday night...hard). The crag was eerily quiet, the stairmaster lot was empty.

On the prior Wednesday I was seconding Shockley's and I actually fell off the first roof. It was a bit damp and somehow I just popped off, no idea how/why, all of a sudden I was swinging in space. Jammed a cam and swung back into the wall to start all over. Embarrassed, I vowed to come back and lead the damn thing.

Fast forward to Monday...I went back and lead it. It was the first time I had lead Shockley's (not sure why, just never got to leading it I guess. Or, maybe I was a wuss because I remembered my early days at the Gunks when Shockley's was really really hard for me.) Anyway, I was a bit nervous when I started for the roof, afterall, I had just fallen as a second. Well, what do you know...the roof was easy peasy. In fact, I even managed to hang out and place an alien right at the lip. (The whole time, I was telling my belayer "I hope I am not freaking you out here, I am totally fine, I feel strong, I do 32 pullups with my personal trainer...blah blah blah...as I am fiddlling for gear, laid out almost horizontally under the roof [I am very short]). Alas, gear at the lip was not required. I shook out, pulled the roof and fired up to roof 2. Now that roof is a little rude shot in the face. Fortunately I had a #2 to slot and up and over I went. All good. Redemption at the Gunks.

On Monday I hit the cliff late (it rained on Sunday night...hard). The crag was eerily quiet, the stairmaster lot was empty.

On the prior Wednesday I was seconding Shockley's and I actually fell off the first roof. It was a bit damp and somehow I just popped off, no idea how/why, all of a sudden I was swinging in space. Jammed a cam and swung back into the wall to start all over. Embarrassed, I vowed to come back and lead the damn thing.

Fast forward to Monday...I went back and lead it. It was the first time I had lead Shockley's (not sure why, just never got to leading it I guess. Or, maybe I was a wuss because I remembered my early days at the Gunks when Shockley's was really really hard for me.) Anyway, I was a bit nervous when I started for the roof, afterall, I had just fallen as a second. Well, what do you know...the roof was easy peasy. In fact, I even managed to hang out and place an alien right at the lip. (The whole time, I was telling my belayer "I hope I am not freaking you out here, I am totally fine, I feel strong, I do 32 pullups with my personal trainer...blah blah blah...as I am fiddlling for gear, laid out almost horizontally under the roof [I am very short]). Alas, gear at the lip was not required. I shook out, pulled the roof and fired up to roof 2. Now that roof is a little rude shot in the face. Fortunately I had a #2 to slot and up and over I went. All good. Redemption at the Gunks.

Now...who wants to do it naked with me?

well done Gail! Yeah, that second roof is a bit rude isn't it?

I've been waiting for a partner to do it naked with for years, and NOW you ask?!?!

Good job on getting back on the horse! First time I led it I remember getting through the first roof without too much difficulty but then getting stymied by the second one. I remember thinking "Geez! I thought once over that scary overhang I was all set, now I'm stuck here!"

It is rainy here this weekend, so I (and a couple friends) spent today scrubbing lichen off rock and trundling some large detached chunks of rock off some routes we're developping. Big rocks do fall with a very satisfying crash.

I got to the cliff at 5Pm on Friday night. I didn't intend to climb, I just wanted to run laps on the stair master. And so I did. It started to drizzle, "gee this feels great, the cool droplets washing away all my sweat",. Well drizzle turned into a full blown thunderstorm with an ensuing downpour. I was already wet, so I still ran my laps. The few climbers who were on the cliff came down the stairmaster, as I worked my way up. Most wondering what the heck I was doing. Hey, it's amazing how 11 runs up the stairmaster makes you feel.

Saturday was crazy. It started drizzling at 9AM and drizzled off and on until about 2PM. We decided to climb anyway. I met my partner at the stair master (ummm...it's a LOT harder wtih a pack on my back). We went up an un-named climb (5.3) near Bitchy Virgin and set up a TR over Raunchy. We ran Rauncy, Gory THumb, Bad Finger, Wild HOrses a few times over. The bottom and upper slabs were wet, slick and downright glassy. So much fun trying to gain purchase on green, soaked rock. We then set up a TR on Kernmantle. It's a poorly protected 8 that I am glad I did not attempt to lead! (The gray dick makes it sounds like a climb I could lead. Not so, the crux was poorly protected and committing. I would not have been happy on lead). It was wet and slimy in key places which upped the fun and difficulty factors. Hey, we made lemonade out of Lemons.

Sunday was a glorious day. My partner showed up at 8AM as planned, as promised. Alas, he had an emergency and turned around and went straight home. I begged Bett and patrick to climb with them and they graciously agreed. We started wtih some self rescue practice and then I lead Columbia, we climbed Madame G's as a party of 4 (wow). I simulclimbed with James (a strong climbers, with limited outdoor experience) and then I lead Snooky's. Took us all day to do 4 pitches. I guess any climbing is better than none right? I created an epic on Snooky's; apparently there was a knot on the end of the rope and poor Patrick had to climb it all over again. At least this time the sun was not in his face.